The invention is particularly applicable to gang mowers where three or more reel-type mowers are mobily supported by a tractor or the like. The mowers of this invention are particularly suitable for extremely precise mowing, such as for a golf course green or putting surface. Those types of lawn mowers are reel mowers which are arranged to produce mowing and which catch the grass clippings in the mowing process. Examples of this type of lawn mower are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,429,110 and 3,511,033 and 3,905,180. That is, there is a reel-type gang mower which has the mowers supported on a tractor, and these mowers are powered by a hydraulic motor which has hydraulic lines connected from the tractor to the motor which is directly attached to the individual mowers.
The concern in this art is to be able to quickly detach and remove the mower from the rest of the machine so that the mower can be adjusted, sharpened, or otherwise serviced or replaced, as necessary. However, the present invention does not require the use of any bolting or other attachment of the hydraulic motor to the mower and thus does not require that there be special wrenches or other tools for removing the reel or mower itself from the remainder of the machine, and such removal requires separating the hydraulic motor and its hydraulic lines from the mower itself.
The present invention provides an arrangement for quickly detaching the mower itself from the remainder of the machine, but to do so without requiring special tools or skills by which the mower is isolated from the remainder of the machine for the purposes mentioned. That is, the present invention provides for a quick disconnect, and likewise a quick connect, of the mower from the hydraulic system and the remainder of the machine. Also, the mower can be quickly disconnected from the support arm or the like of the tractor, and thus the mower unit is fully removed from the tractor in a quick and simplified procedure.
In accomplishing the aforementioned, it is also significant that the mower arrangement in this invention is an in-line arrangement of the mower reel axis relative to the driving motor axis, so that the two are in line and in compact relationship for ease of connecting and disconnecting and for simplification of overall structure and reliability of the driving function.
Still further, the connection between the mower and the motor is such to provide a cavity therebetween which can receive a lubrication, such as grease, so that the mower reel shaft can be supported in a greased bearing. Still further, the mounting arrangement mentioned is such that the grease cavity is vented for optimum condition of the greasing procedure. In accomplishing this objective, the quick connect arrangement is such that the grease cavity is sealed by means of the quick connection, and thus the connection and the sealing are achieved in the same single arrangement of the mechanism.